Merck & Co

Stakeholder engagement
The company’s stakeholder engagement covers nature, including biodiversity, and social issues.

Lobbying
The company discloses its framework for assessing alignment of its trade associations with nature-positive policies, however it could be more clear and detailed.

Water
The company engages with suppliers to reduce water withdrawal. The company has a commitment to respect the right to water and has endorsed the UN CEO Water Mandate and recognizes clean water and sanitation as one of the SDGs they prioritize.

Solid and air pollution
The company discloses the proportion of hazardous waste treated to reduce pollution compared to total waste, the hazardous waste diverted from disposal and the waste directed to disposal.

GHG emissions
The company’s scope 1 and 2 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory. The company’s scope 3 emissions target is aligned with a 1.5-degree trajectory.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion and community impact area.

Sustainability strategy and accountability
The company discloses its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability impacts as well as the outcome of this process, in relation to its sustainability strategy. While the company discloses group-wide targets on GHG emissions, it does not disclose group-wide targets on other key sustainability topics for the most material parts of its value chain. The company reports consistently against all its targets. No evidence was found that the company links performance criteria in senior executives’ remuneration policies to targets and objectives which cover nature, including biodiversity, and social issues. The company does not disclose whether its highest governance body has expertise regarding nature-related topics.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses an overview of the issues raised during its stakeholder engagement activities. The company does not disclose its process for engaging with stakeholder groups beyond its materiality assessment.

Lobbying
The company discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member wherever it operates. While the company reports misalignment between the lobbying activities of its trade associations and nature-positive policies, it provides insufficient details on such missalignments.

Impact and dependencies assessment
The company has not holistically assessed its impacts or how it depends on nature, including biodiversity. It has an opportunity to start such an assessment across its value chains, focused on quantification of its impacts or dependencies.

Key areas and species
The company does not disclose key species or areas important for biodiversity affected by its operations or suppliers. It has an opportunity to increase its transparency.

Ecosystem conversion and restoration
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to avoid ecosystem conversion, including deforestation, or promote restoration. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets. The company is not committed to restoring ecosystems. Whiile the company discloses some of its restoration activities, the company does not disclose comprehensive nor systematic details and outcomes of ecosystem restoration projects in areas affected by its own operations or by its suppliers.

Resource exploitation and circularity
No evidence was found regarding the company’s efforts to work towards a circular economy or which organisms it exploits. The company has an opportunity to develop a strategy and publicly report on specific, time-bound targets. The company does not disclose efforts to improve soil health.

Water
The company demonstrates it is reducing water withdrawal in its own operations. While the company has a target to keep global water use at a 2015 level, it does not translate into a time-bound water withdrawal reduction target. The company reports how much water is withdrawn for its own operations in water-stressed areas. The company reports a decrease in water pollution. The company does not disclose its processes for managing and monitoring discharge water quality. The company does not regularly report on water pollution. The company does not disclose targets to reduce water pollution. The company does not disclose its processes for implementing preventive and corrective action plans for identified specific risks to the right to water and sanitation in its own operations.

Solid and air pollution
The company is not reducing the production of hazardous substances. The company does not commit to avoid developing or marketing new chemicals or products with SVHC (substance of very high concern) properties. The company is not reducing the production of hazardous waste. The company is not reducing plastic use and waste in its own operations. The company does not report on the amount of plastic waste generated and proportions directed from or to disposal. The company reports regularly on air quality parameters of emissions of harmful air pollutants. The company does not report time-bound targets to reduce air pollutants across the most material parts of its value chain.

GHG emissions
The company is not reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions. The company does not report progress against its scope 1 and 2 emissions target. The company is not reducing its scope 3 emissions. The company has a time-bound target to reduce its scope 3 emissions. The company does not report progress against its scope 3 emissions target.

Invasive species
The company has not identified any activities that could lead to the introduction of invasive alien species in its own operations.

Safe, healthy, clean environment
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting local communities’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment or to zero tolerance for acts of violence, threats, intimidation or judicial harassment committed against land and environmental rights defenders.

Indigenous Peoples’ and land rights
The company does not show if it is committed to respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or Land rights of local communities. The company does not disclose a commitment to respect ownership and use of land and natural resources and related legitimate tenure rights, as set out in the relevant part(s) of the VGGTs or the IFC Performance Standards. The company does not require its business relationships to have a process to identify legitimate tenure rightsholders, paying particular attention to vulnerable or marginalised tenure rightsholders, and to negotiate with them to provide adequate compensation.

While the company discloses that it conducts due diligence in general, it has an opportunity to specify that it conducts human rights due diligence that includes a process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its financing activities. The company describes the process for identifying human rights risks and impacts in its business relationships. The company describes its process for assessing its human rights risks. However, it has an opportunity to disclose what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. While the company discloses that it conducts routine human rights risk assessments and that it remediates in locations with the highest risk, no evidence was found that it has a global system to act on all its salient human rights issues. There is no evidence that the company provides an example of the conclusions reached and actions taken or to be taken on at least one of its salient human rights issues as a result of assessment processes. While the company discloses the categories of stakeholders it engages with generally on sustainability issues, it is not clear if these stakeholders are those whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. There is no evidence that the company provides examples of its engagement with stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities.

The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. The company has a publicly available policy statement which shows it expects its suppliers to commit to respecting the health and safety of their workers. The company has an opportunity to disclose a time-bound target for paying all workers a living wage or that it has achieved paying all workers a living wage. The company has an opportunity to describe how it determines a living wage for the regions where it operates. The company discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements. While the company states that it encourages its suppliers to respect employees’ right to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, it has an opportunity to describe how it works to support the practices of its suppliers in relation to those.

The company discloses a global tax strategy. There is no evidence that the company describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. The company includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its contracts with direct business relationships. The company does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement in a public policy document.